With El Paso on the power play, Rhinos’ defenseman Costi Hinn started the scoring at 8:18 of the first period, earning him his second point in his second game. Fellow veteran Nick Gorup got the assist. Wilhite got the first of his two goals of the game, at 4:54 of the second period, assisted by Austin Balko. After Colorado’s Jason Lee pulled the Outlaws to within a goal at 9:24, Wilhite started the scoring avalanche with his strike at 14:54, with Balko and Gorup on the assist.
The Rhinos would score four more times after that; a Rashad Harris rocket coming less than two minutes after Wilhite’s second goal, assisted by Eric LaBounty and Kevin Coyne. Jeffrey Schmudlach, in his first weekend with El Paso after being traded from the tradition-rich Dubuque Thunderbirds, tallied his first goal in a Rhinos’ uniform at 5:36 of the third period on a feed from Zach
Kohn and Anthony Paulsen. Hayden Kowalski continued his hot weekend in his hometown by scoring his fourth goal in three games at 9:45 with Kohn on the assist. Kohn rounded out the scoring with a goal of his own, finishing Schmudlach’s pass for his third point of the night at 16:13.
With his 60 minutes in net Sunday afternoon, *Natali has played 245 minutes this season to surface amongst the leading goaltenders in the Western States Hockey League. While Natali is sixth in the league with a 2.00 goals-against average, fellow Rhino and Illinois native Arthur Hollinger is second with a 1.57.
El Paso is now 9-0-0, earning a full 18 points and remaining the only undefeated team in the WSHL.
The Rhinos will return home in time for classes tomorrow and will round out their month-long road swing next weekend in Dallas against the Hawks. El Paso’s first home series comes in less than two weeks when the Rhinos host the Tulsa Rampage, October 19-21 at the Sierra Providence Events Center. For more information or to purchase season tickets, call 479-PUCK (7825).
*Anthony Natali’s stats on Pointstreak.com are incorrect. One of Natali’s games against San Antonio was incorrectly credited to Darius Mack.
Anthony Natali’s Stats corrected stats should read:
GP: 4
W: 4
L: 0
GAA: 8
Saves: 124
Save %: .939
